The wind swept through the corridor like a young girl's willful sobbing.
After bringing Anakitty and the others to a safe place, Bell ran toward the rear of Twilight Manor without hesitation.
The wind grew stronger and stronger. Just as Bell was thinking through his next move, a slender arm blocked his path.
"Lefiya-san? I have something urgent right now. Whatever it is, can we talk later?"
Bell looked at the golden-yellow-haired elf, whose face carried a faint blush, and had no intention of getting sidetracked.
Although Riveria had helped stop Ais, he was still the cause of this mess. He had to show himself and resolve this abnormal situation.
"Ugh... what kind of trouble did you get into this time?"
Lefiya hid the shyness in her heart.
She had clearly made up her mind to avoid the boy for the next while. But then she heard the female members talking in the corridor, saying that Little Rookie was currently fighting Aki and the others.
In the end, Lefiya still couldn't resist the worry and curiosity churning inside her. She hastily put on her clothes, rushed out, and came to find the boy.
"Lefiya-san, thank you for worrying about me. I'll handle this properly."
Bell thanked the golden-yellow-haired elf beside him.
Lefiya did not press him. She simply stayed by his side, and that alone was enough to show where she stood.
"I-I'm not worried about you! It's just... um... right, I was worried you might be causing trouble for Aki-san and the others!"
Lefiya hurriedly came up with an excuse for following him.
She was wearing her usual pale pink outerwear and white stockings. The blush spreading across her cheeks made it seem as if she were hiding something.
"Wait, what exactly happened? Maybe I can help... Huh?!"
Lefiya reached out with her left hand, intending to pat the boy's shoulder and ask for details.
But a violent gust suddenly blew through Twilight Manor. Lefiya had rushed out in a hurry and had not properly fixed her outfit, so under the force of the wind, the straps on her shoes came loose. What followed was the entrance of the [Clumsy] golden-yellow-haired elf.
"Lefiya-san, are you all right?"
Bell reacted quickly and caught the golden-yellow-haired elf's left hand. To help her absorb the momentum, he used his own body as a cushion.
The situation was the exact opposite of what had happened with Anakitty. This time, it was Lefiya who crashed into the boy's arms.
"I'm fine... thank you... Huh?!!"
Lefiya steadied herself, and her beautiful face turned crimson at a visible speed.
"What's wrong?"
Bell also sensed something strange.
Just as Lefiya pulled away from his chest in embarrassment, her [Power] had clearly increased.
Logically speaking, the two of them had only trained together in Concurrent Chanting yesterday. Lefiya should not have grown that much in a single day.
Either she had some special skill that accelerated her growth, or she had developed a new skill.
Those were personal secrets for any adventurer. Bell only buried the speculation deep in his heart and did not ask at such a poor time.
"N-nothing. It's just... a little hot, haha..."
As Lefiya ran, she waved her right hand in front of her face as if fanning herself.
"Lefiya-san, there's cold wind blowing all around us."
Bell smiled and exposed the golden-yellow-haired elf's panic.
"Ugh..."
Lefiya stopped moving her hand, left speechless.
She had awakened a love-related skill. As long as she got close to someone whose affection threshold had broken through its limit, several of her abilities would receive different degrees of enhancement. How was she supposed to say that out loud?!
More importantly, Lefiya had still been fantasizing before that maybe the skill had only appeared and would not actually do anything.
But after coming into contact with the boy, she immediately realized that the skill had already taken effect. As a mage, Lefiya could clearly feel that her [Magic Power] had definitely received a major correction.
What even was an affection threshold breakthrough supposed to mean?
Now that it had activated, wasn't it basically saying, I, Lefiya, love Bell Cranel the most, red heart and all?!
There was definitely something wrong with that, right?!
Lefiya rubbed at the hem of her red skirt, shook her head as if trying to wipe her worries away completely, and said, "So hurry up and tell me. What exactly happened?!"
Lefiya guided the topic back to the raging wind.
"..."
Bell had originally planned to hide the matter with Ais to avoid dragging Lefiya into it.
But the wind was growing fiercer, and he could faintly hear the clash of a rapier and a wand.
Resolving this peacefully was probably no longer possible. It would be better to bring Lefiya along as additional strength.
Besides, there was something Bell wanted to try.
In the mock battle just now, he had not used [Argo's Ship]. That magic was far too overpowered, and its true value went far beyond simply replicating another person's magic.
Although there was no need to hide everything from the Loki Familia, Bell still did not intend to reveal [Argo's Ship] as one of his trump cards.
They belonged to different familias, and magic and skills were extremely confidential. Revealing every secret would only place a mental burden on both sides, and might even cause unnecessary trouble.
Bell had thought that if the expedition called for it, it would not be too late to activate [Argo's Ship] then.
That had been his previous thinking. But now that the situation had become abnormal, he no longer had to worry about the Loki Familia asking questions. It was the perfect chance to test the hypothesis he had held for a long time.
[Argo's Ship] was an enchantment magic. Effects like Ais's wind and Laurier's invisibility could all be brought out through it.
Strictly speaking, however, it was not an ordinary enchantment. Chloe's phantom magic and Filvis's barrier magic were proof enough that those effects could also be produced.
If that was the case, what would happen if he used [Argo's Ship] to fire artillery magic?
Bell's Firebolt was fast, but because it required no chant, its power was fairly ordinary. In the mock battle earlier, even Elfy at Level 3 had been able to fire a fireball and cancel out Bell's magic.
But if he changed the method, could the large amount of [Magic Power] Bell had built up be used to produce greater combat strength?
Setting aside the power of the magic itself, [Argo's Ship] also had a very short chant. The moment the chant was completed, it could bring out the magic effect of the person he joined hands with, effectively compressing the long chant required for artillery magic.
Putting all those guesses together, if this really worked, the potential of [Argo's Ship] would be beyond imagination.
Bell gave Lefiya a rough explanation of what had happened, then made his request.
"Lefiya-san, that's the situation. Let's go stop Ais-san together and fire magic at her."
Bell's words reached the girl's ears along with the howling wind.
The golden-yellow-haired elf froze for an instant, like a kite with its string cut.
"Huh?"
"Attack Ais-san?"
"Huuuh?!!!"